Halifax Reward and the new Tax free Savings

Steve_xx

masonic wrote: »

If Halifax did say that, then it would be interest, but in fact, Halifax pay their Reward to customers whose account balance at the close of each and every day is exactly nil. I don't think there can be any claim that the money Halifax is paying out should be classed as interest; what exactly it should be classed as is debatable.

It's a gift!

zagfles

masonic wrote: »

If Halifax did say that, then it would be interest, but in fact, Halifax pay their Reward to customers whose account balance at the close of each and every day is exactly nil. I don't think there can be any claim that the money Halifax is paying out should be classed as interest; what exactly it should be classed as is debatable.

Hmm...they seem to contradict themselves all over the place, even in the T&C's. In some places they say you have to stay in credit (obviously a nil balance isn't "in credit" as there's no credit balance), and in other places they say as long you haven't had a debit balance!

If they just stick to the "in credit" requirement then there would be no reason not to officially classify the reward payment as interest. Which would mean it would count in the PSA and also the nil rate band for those earning between £11k and £16k next year.

I'm sure most people would be happy to maintain a balance of 1p to get the payment classed as interest!

masonic

zagfles wrote: »

I'm sure most people would be happy to maintain a balance of 1p to get the payment classed as interest!

If they were to add a requirement to spend at least £6.25 per month on your debit card, they could make the payment tax free as cashback. However, I note that their Clarity Reward credit card, which already pays out cashback, is still £5. I suspect whatever happened, the amount paid out to the customer would remain at £5.

Steve_xx

masonic wrote: »

If they were to add a requirement to spend at least £6.25 per month on your debit card, they could make the payment tax free as cashback. However, I note that their Clarity Reward credit card, which already pays out cashback, is still £5. I suspect whatever happened, the amount paid out to the customer would remain at £5.

I've missed a trick here. When I looked at your post I was baffled by the "Reward" element that you made mention of on the Clarity Credit Card. I have a Clarity Card used for transactions abroad. However, I don't use it inland. I'm reading Martin's spiel about this card that it is in fact the same card as the one I have and so I guess if I drop 1k a month into the current account and spend more than £300 per month, then I'll automatically get a fiver back?

pinkdalek

In the grand scheme of things, when all is said and done, who gives a toss.

masonic

Steve_xx wrote: »

I'm reading Martin's spiel about this card that it is in fact the same card as the one I have and so I guess if I drop 1k a month into the current account and spend more than £300 per month, then I'll automatically get a fiver back?

It's a little bit more complicated than that. Originally, it was a standalone cashback card called Clarity Reward and everyone got £5 if they spend £300 per month. Later on, a requirement to hold the current account at the time you applied for the credit card was introduced and a separate Clarity card was introduced that does not have the 'Reward'. I believe it became necessary to apply for the Clarity Reward card in branch, whereas if you applied online you got the non-Reward version by default. I think now it depends on having used their switching service prior to applying or holding an Ultimate Reward current account. So it really depends on when and how you applied, as well as whether you were meeting conditions in force around the current account at that time.

Steve_xx

masonic wrote: »

It's a little bit more complicated than that. Originally, it was a standalone cashback card called Clarity Reward and everyone got £5 if they spend £300 per month. Later on, a requirement to hold the current account at the time you applied for the credit card was introduced and a separate Clarity card was introduced that does not have the 'Reward'. I believe it became necessary to apply for the Clarity Reward card in branch, whereas if you applied online you got the non-Reward version by default. I think now it depends on having used their switching service prior to applying or holding an Ultimate Reward current account. So it really depends on when and how you applied, as well as whether you were meeting conditions in force around the current account at that time.

Well, what a duffer. I've had the Reward accounts for years, but sadly, only acquired the Clarity Card a couple of months back, and, I applied for it online. So I guess there's no reward for me then! Thanks for the clarification.

masonic

Steve_xx wrote: »

Well, what a duffer. I've had the Reward accounts for years, but sadly, only acquired the Clarity Card a couple of months back, and, I applied for it online. So I guess there's no reward for me then! Thanks for the clarification.

If only a couple of months back, you might still be ok, because there is no longer any requirement to open in branch. Check your agreement to see if it mentions the reward payments - should be section 11 of the T&Cs.

zagfles

masonic wrote: »

If only a couple of months back, you might still be ok, because there is no longer any requirement to open in branch. Check your agreement to see if it mentions the reward payments - should be section 11 of the T&Cs.

I applied for a (second) Clarity on the phone, not in branch, 3 months ago after switching current account and got the Reward Clarity.

Steve_xx

masonic wrote: »

If only a couple of months back, you might still be ok, because there is no longer any requirement to open in branch. Check your agreement to see if it mentions the reward payments - should be section 11 of the T&Cs.

Yes I've now looked at Sec 11 of the terms and was going nicely until I got to term 11.2 (b)

11.2 - To be eligible for the reward set out in condition 11.1, you must, at the time you enter into this agreement:-

(a) hold a Halifax current account and pay in £1,000 or more each month;
(b) use our switching service to move your current account to a Halifax Current Account and agree to pay in £1,000 or more each month;
(c) open or hold a Halifax Ultimate Reward Current Account.

I can satisfy term (a) but not term (b) and I don't satisfy term (c). Do you think they're possibly missing the word "or" between (a) and (b)? To me, term 11.2 reads as if you should be satisfying all three sub terms to get the fiver. What do you think?